Destiny Beta Hands On (Playstation 4)

Given the long weekend we have in Singapore. It was nice to finally get my hands on the Destiny Beta which of course was opened to those who have a PSN plus activated account. Prior to this, the invitation was only opened to those who had a beta access key. Destiny slated for a Sep 9 release this year on all current and last generation consoles. You might be familiar with the developer and their billion dollar franchise Halo on the Xbox systems. Destiny first made a showing at E3 2013 and since then have left fans in anticipation.

After a pretty decent 10+ gb worth of files downloaded, I hopped right into the world of destiny with character creation. The personalization, creation process allowed a player to choose a race and between 3 different classes which at this point I have only a level 6 warlock to talk about. The other 2 classes titan and hunter represent different play styles with one more focused on ranged weapons and attacks while the other on tanking abilities.

Destiny looks and sounds great. Thrust into a living breathing science fictional world, destiny is about a group of guardians who now live on tower the last city on earth. Together with other guardians, you seek to eliminate alien threats while protecting the existence of humanity. PS4 users are treated to a gorgeous 1080p Destiny beta.

Let us give you 3 reasons why Destiny is worth playing:

Gameplay, I won’t deny that Destiny plays very much like a synthesis of current shooters in the market and this would include games such as Halo, Borderlands, killzone shadowfall, elements from mass effect and even a mission which played much like doom 3. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While it isn’t the most original game out there, Destiny combines all the great things we come to love about our favorite FPS games. Innovations like looting and addictive gear and levelling up makes the game feel like you are constantly evolving the play style of your character. There were instances which made me feel so much like a bad-ass juggling melee, range, charged weapons and your health/shield meter. This is indeed the way shooters need to be balanced!

Sound, landscape design, weapons, gear. Again, while not entirely original, Destiny does well to create a world which feels very much alive like an MMO game you might be familiar with. Interacting and jumping into a game with a friend is simple enough. Let’s spend some time talking about the sound. Strings, full choir tracks coupled and backed with an orchestra, Destiny sound track shines bringing out the sense of exploration, danger, excitement and fear well. The dystonic recreations of earth show the lovely designed elements which hardly feels like quick copy and paste.

The sense of magnitude. Yes Destiny likes to show you that it is indeed a massive game. Ships will descend upon you, the horizons will look like they go on forever and did I mention, people can drop in and out of your game. Destiny is a seamless online experience which allows your friends or other players to drop in and out of your game during story mode turning it into a PVE experience. This is a very much welcome feature. While I’m sure most will still take it to multiplayer death match and I assure you “The crucible” is there for that reason, others will really relish the opportunity to play co-op with your buddies or help them out. Levels can be replayed on a different difficulty as well.

Destiny is shaping up to be a solid shooter experience on the Consoles. I for one can’t wait for September to come. In the meantime, Kenneth Wong and I will probably jump into a mission together later tonight to experience more PVE action. For those who are still on the fence on getting a next generation console, might want to check out the lovely PS4 white destiny bundle which honestly looks every bit as stunning as the game. For more gaming news and update, stay lively on Popculture online.